Bonza Airline Discussion

[AussieJasmine]

If the drink doesn't come in a box and silver bag, is it truly bogan? I, for one, would be most disappointed.

I wish them well, but honestly can't see this working. 737s on secondary routes just isn't going to work. You can do it in Europe because secondary routes can be insanely traffic heavy. If you look at regional airports like ALC or AGP in Spain, they'd dwarf even some Australian capitals due to the sheer weight of tourist traffic in a market of 500 million. Australia has 25 million.

On top of that any budget conscious tourist is more likely to head to Bali, coughet or Pattaya than Broome or Ningaloo. You can easily get a week in a decent resort in any of those places for the price of a weekend (at best) in a decidedly average Aussie holiday park.

It's not an easy market to crack. Their best bet would probably be to focus on inducing new demand on under developed short and medium haul international tourist routes. There's a lot of potential to develop tourist trade in places like the Cooks, eastern Indonesia, Timor Leste, New Caledonia, potentially out to as far as French Polynesia, Niue, Samoa etc. It also offers the advantage of not operating under QF/VAs sword of damocles, and having governments at the end that will likely welcome the chance of boosting their tourism sector and be willing to agree to joint marketing and development of potential routes, as well as playing nice with route approvals.

 

[henrus]

xx_X beer $10 a can

$10 a can... No they need a keg in the trolley. xx_X on tap is the only way to go!

 

[dajop]

Although it’s unlikely & being a biased WA local, there is a community feel (massive hype new BQB JQ flights) & desire for councils to attract investment, there could be an untapped route network in WA that may evolve to be successful.

I think the absence of Jetstar from WA intrastate could be leaving some money on the table, not on the routes you're talking about though. Look at price of similar distance routes on east and west coast ... PER-BME vs ADL-OOL, or PER-LEA vs MEL-BNK, and guess which tend be more expensive ... by a factor of 2. Of course the limiting factor is availability of affordable accommodation.

 

[Daver6]

I think the absence of Jetstar from WA intrastate could be leaving some money on the table, not on the routes you're talking about though. Look at price of similar distance routes on east and west coast ... PER-BME vs ADL-OOL, or PER-LEA vs MEL-BNK, and guess which tend be more expensive ... by a factor of 2. Of course the limiting factor is availability of affordable accommodation.

I'd go one step further and say lack of available accommodation in general. Most WA destinations are geared towards places where you need to cook your own food. There is a massive lack of quality hotels and resorts in WA. Take LEA as a destination. The folks going to Coral Bay and the like are renting places where you need to prepare your own meals. They drive up and take provisions. I'm not really sure why J* would work on such a route from PER. It would only cannibalise QF revenue.

Until there is actually decent quality hotels and resorts in sufficient capacity, I can't see the demand in WA. I think this is hugely holding the WA tourism sector back.

 

[dajop]

Until there is actually decent quality hotels and resorts in sufficient capacity, I can't see the demand in WA. I think this is hugely holding the WA tourism sector back.

Agree. On the flipside that is one of the charms of tourism in WA. It's so different to everywhere else (except perhaps Broome Cable Beach and the SW corner centred around Busselton and Margaret River)

 

[AussieJasmine]

I'd go one step further and say lack of available accommodation in general. Most WA destinations are geared towards places where you need to cook your own food. There is a massive lack of quality hotels and resorts in WA. Take LEA as a destination. The folks going to Coral Bay and the like are renting places where you need to prepare your own meals. They drive up and take provisions. I'm not really sure why J* would work on such a route from PER. It would only cannibalise QF revenue.

Until there is actually decent quality hotels and resorts in sufficient capacity, I can't see the demand in WA. I think this is hugely holding the WA tourism sector back.

This. I absolutely love WA, and places like Ningaloo reef and the Houtman Arbolhos islands of Geraldton deserve to be seen as the world class marine environments they are (not to mention Cocos Keeling), but the idea of making a mass-market LCC tourism destination out of them just isn't on the cards. Unlike places like Indonesia or Timor where you could build up tourism, you really can't as there just isn't the resident population available to run it, and even if some enterprising company did try it, it could only make it work as a premium destination due to high cost of pretty much everything in remote WA.

 

[UP4014]

I don't think it will be a bonza outcome.

 

[jakeseven7]

I think the absence of Jetstar from WA intrastate could be leaving some money on the table

Jetstar is on the only WA intrastate route that WA residents care about - Bali

 

[Daver6]

Agree. On the flipside that is one of the charms of tourism in WA. It's so different to everywhere else (except perhaps Broome Cable Beach and the SW corner centred around Busselton and Margaret River)

Even Broome is lacking. Most the hotels are basic when it comes to bar and dining facilities (a couple of exceptions). Also the SW, there really aren't many hotels with proper hotel facilities.

There's nothing wrong with this, but quite surprising. I really noticed this during the last two years with Covid restrictions. While I don't mind the offerings we have in WA, I simply struggled to find proper resort accommodation. Where I can just turn up, without supplies and without needing to worry about preparing my own meals. Where someone will clean my room and make my bed each day.

Albany would be a great example (although I think a DoubleTree is in the works there). Other than some crummy motel type accommodation it's all AirBnB or B&B style accommodation in the area.

 

[DC3]

$10 a can... No they need a keg in the trolley. xx_X on tap is the only way to go!

The beer would be served in yard glasses, only.

 

[henrus]

The beer would be served in yard glasses, only.

Look I was joking but after finding out it's possible:

World’s First Perfect Draught Beer Aboard a Plane

A beer, drawn straight from the tap was not possible aboard a plane.But not anymore! KLM recently served its first draught beer in World Business Class!

blog.klm.com

I think it would be rude of Bonza not to.

 

[OZDUCK]

Albany would be a great example (although I think a DoubleTree is in the works there). Other than some crummy motel type accommodation it's all AirBnB or B&B style accommodation in the area.

It is actually a Hilton Garden Inn and the site is booking stays from 1 December. It is down on the waterfront next to the Entertainment Centre.

https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/alhgigi-garden-inn-albany/

 

[Daver6]

It is actually a Hilton Garden Inn and the site is booking stays from 1 December. It is down on the waterfront next to the Entertainment Centre.

https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/alhgigi-garden-inn-albany/

Great location...but not exactly a hotel you want to hang around in. No pool either. Another example of lack of good accommodation in WA.

 

[AussieJasmine]

Jetstar is on the only WA intrastate route that WA residents care about - Bali

SHUT THE BORD.... oh, wait... not THAT one.

 

[Saab34]

My tip is that they'll either by bought by PAG/Rex and merged into REX or they'll go into administration and subsequent liquidation.

Why would anyone buy it? What exactly are you buying? It’s a worthless business that leases aircraft, outsources staff, pretty much owns nothing.

Would be better to just let it die. Certainly can’t put a value on it, $0.

 

[DC3]

It is actually a Hilton Garden Inn and the site is booking stays from 1 December. It is down on the waterfront next to the Entertainment Centre.

HGI. That’s piqued my interest.

I had thought that we were HGI-deprived in Oz. How did I miss that one?

 

[Catweazle]

There are plenty of "alternative" leisure destinations in Australia (outside of CNS, OOL, BNK, MCY and HTI, - and HBA in summer) but they all lack the on the ground infrastructure (i.e. accommodation) to support growth in the market via LCC leisure traffic. My last comment notwithstanding, maybe there's an opportunity in the WA intrastate market, where QF has refused to send Jetstar.

Probably the most significant "new" LCC leisure route in recent memory for a leisure market (MEL-BQB) has been gazumped by Covid border closures and delayed a dozen times, and I don't think has even seen a single flight yet. Will be interesting to see how that goes.

So true. Our trip was cancelled due to border restrictions and 2020 lockdown all at once. Was looking forward to flying this route. They were supposed to start it earlier this year, but not sure now. I think it'd do best with JQ though.

 

[Saab34]

Bonza does not even have a Head of Flight Operations yet.

CASA normally goes on extended holidays across Dec and Jan.

I can’t see this getting off the ground until at least Feb 2023.

Look at previous new AOCs. Minimum time seems to be nearly a year. They don’t have any other offshoot to show CASA, they don’t have any staff, they pretty much have nothing.

 

[Chicken]

Bonza does not even have a Head of Flight Operations yet.

They don’t have any other offshoot to show CASA, they don’t have any staff, they pretty much have nothing.

Aren't they wet leasing? They could wet lease the whole thing?

 

[HS-TQE]

Aren't they wet leasing? They could wet lease the whole thing?

Who would be the 'operating' carrier? QF, VA, JQ and ZL are definitely out.

Can't see Alliance, Cobham or Air North being involved and/or keeping quiet (over being trained on the MAX) if they were the wet lease operators..